Sunday, December 14, 2008

Iraqi Shoe-Throwing Journalist Speaks For A Lot Of Us

By MARC McDONALD

I'm not sure what the specific grievance was that motivated an Iraqi journalist to throw two shoes at George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad. Throwing shoes at someone is a considered a supreme insult in the Middle East.

But I do know this: if I could speak to that Iraqi journalist, I'd tell him that I share his contempt for Bush.

Indeed, I wish those shoes had hit Bush squarely in the middle of his smirking face.

After all, Bush now has only a few weeks left in office. Bush will leave the White House without ever having faced any consequences whatsoever for his reckless, illegal, immoral invasion of Iraq.

Throughout history, other world leaders have faced serious consequences for comparable crimes. They've faced international court tribunals. They've been tried in The Hague. They've gone to jail. In some cases, they've even faced the firing squad.

But thanks to the spineless, wimpy Democrats, Bush will apparently never face any consequences for the Iraq War, a $3 trillion fiasco that has resulted in the deaths of over 1 million men, women and children.

No, Bush will any face any consequences for the Iraq horror that he unleashed. He'll never be arrested. He'll never be tried. He'll never face justice.

Indeed (like all ex-presidents) Bush can look forward to a nice, cushy, lucrative career after the White House. Presidents generally land multi-million-dollar book deals (and thanks to ghost writers, they don't even have to bother to write their books).

And ex-presidents can generally command enormous multi-million-dollar fees on the lecture circuit. (Note that although most of America despises Bush, there are still plenty of Kool-Aid-drinking Bush cultists who will glad shell out money to hear him speak).

So like Jack the Ripper, Bush is a monster with blood on his hands who is going to get off scot-free and never face any repercussions for his crimes.

Like I said, the shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist speaks for a lot of us in his contempt for Bush.

4 comments:

Apparently, Bush claimed that it does not represent the Iraqi media as a whole.

No, but it probably does represent the general opinion in the Middle East as a whole. About 1 in 5 people in this world consider themselves Muslim. Through its policies, the US has likely turned the vast majority of them against it. Scary if you think about it.

Hi Chris, thanks for your comment.You know, before 9/11, Osama Bin Laden was treated with contempt by much of the Muslim world. He was an embarrassment to the Muslim faith, in the opinion of most moderates.Today, Bin Laden is a folk hero among many of those same moderates.Bush couldn't have radicalized more moderate Muslims if he'd been on Al Qaeda's payroll.

Yes, the 20% of the world who practice a religion that commands them to kill anyone who does not become Muslim is really peeved that Bush polices kept them at bay and stopped them from killing any of us on US soil. You are so blind it is almost not worth replying. Fools!

Don't you love the Anonymous trolls afraid to identify themselves ? They remind me of 'sources say' attributions in the so-called news.I keep hearing about OBL long after he should have been declared dead or found. Have you ever turned the 'pages' of the '9/11' crowds blogs to realize how odd the whole OBL scenario is ?First, he was declared to be at fault in an almost obscene hurry. Fast work indeed for forensics carried out on Ground Zero.There weren't any, you say ? Well, come on, why would a friend of the Bush family and long time cooperator/leader cooperating with the CIA not be the most logical suspect ?You don't know about Charlie Wilson's War, you say ? Damn.Nor the farce in Saudi Arabia either I suppose.From going into Iraq to kill Cheney's once-buddy Saddam - WMD menace that the UN said was not so -to the unannounced indefinite occupation of Iraq only one thing has stood out.They lie : incessantly. habitually, compulsively.Islamofascism. To think I laughed out loud to think such a ridiculous concept could be sold to people in the ongoing violent attacks on people who haven't done anything except sit on land where oil is present.

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About This Blog

Welcome to BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com, the progressive political blog of Marc McDonald. A Texas journalist, McDonald worked for 15 years for several newspapers, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, before he quit his day job and set up shop in cyberspace in 1995. McDonald's articles have appeared in a number of popular progressive Web sites, including Crooks and Liars, The Reaction, Buzzflash.com, Salon.com, OpEdNews.com, The Neil Rogers Show and The Raw Story. McDonald's Web articles have also been featured and reviewed by various national and international media, including CNN Headline News, the BBC, CBS, the Washington Post, USA Today and many more. On June 3, 2011, I was interviewed on the progressive radio program, "Voices at Work." Go here to hear my interview with host Ron Gonyea. I am always available for media interviews on progressive issues. Contact me here.